Awards
- Short-listed for Grand Prix du Livre de la Ville de Sherbrooke 2006 (Canada)
Overview
Is it possible that early Christian anti-Judaism was directed toward people other than Jews? Michele Murray proposes that significant strands of early Christian anti-Judaism were directed against Gentile Christians. More specifically, it was directed toward Gentile Christian Judaizers -- Christians who combined a commitment to Christianity with adherence in varying degrees to Jewish practices -- without viewing such behaviour as contradictory. Several Christian leaders thought these community members dangerously blurred the boundaries between Christianity and Judaism. As such, Gentile Christian Judaizers became the target of much anti-Jewish rhetoric in various early Christian writings. Evidence of Gentile Christian Judaizers can be found in canonical sources, such as Paul's Letter to the Galatians and the Book of Revelation, as well as non-canonical sources, such as the Epistle of Barnabas, the Didache, and Justin Martyr's Dialogue with Trypho. In order to compare the phenomenon of Judaizing and the reaction to it of ecclesiastical authorities, Murray organises the evidence by probable geographical location, using Asia Minor and Syria as the two main loci. This phenomenon of Gentile Christian Judaizing is examined within the broader context of Jewish-Christian relations in the early centuries, and is the first attempt to draw all possible references to Gentile Christian Judaizers together into one study to consider them as a whole. This discussion invites readers to reflect on the existence of Gentile Christian Judaizers as another point on the continuum of Jewish-Christian relations in the Greco-Roman world -- an area, Murray concludes, that needs to be more carefully defined.
Full Product Details
Author: Michele Murray
Publisher: Wilfrid Laurier University Press
Imprint: Wilfrid Laurier University Press
Dimensions:
Width: 15.80cm
, Height: 2.00cm
, Length: 23.70cm
Weight: 0.580kg
ISBN: 9780889204010
ISBN 10: 0889204012
Pages: 224
Publication Date: 30 April 2004
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Available To Order
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Reviews
Playing a Jewish Game offers a new perspective upon history and religious definition that reverberates as vital to better understanding Judaism and Christianity alike in contemporary times.''--John Taylor The Midwest Book Review, September 2004
Author Information
Michele Murray is an assistant professor in the Department of Religion at Bishop's University, Lennoxville, Quebec, Canada.
